Authentic Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken (宫保鸡丁) in Chinese is a stir-fried dish with chicken cubes, dried chili pepper and deep-fried peanuts. The tender taste of the chicken matches great with the crispy peanuts with a combined sweet, sour and spicy taste.

Background of the dish

The name of Kung Pao comes from a court official Ding Baozhen in Qing dynasty. The hero official Ding is a foodie who especially loves stir-fried diced chicken. During the time of being served as governor in Sichuan province, he frequently treats his guest with this dish and add dried chili peppers because People in Sichuan loves to eat hot chili. Later on, he is granted the title Taizi Shaobao also known as Kung Pao, which means the protector of the crown price. People name this dish after him to memory him.In China, chefs usually use chicken thighs to make this dish rather than boneless chicken breasts. The meat of thighs is tenderer but requires more about the cutting skills.

I made this world wide famous Kung Pao chicken every month. I know that it is all loved Chinese food by people around the world. The aroma bought by the combination of chili pepper flakes and Sichuan peppercorn is so fragrant. Kung Pao series dish is considered as one of the most popular one in Sichuan cuisine. Besides chicken, we also have Kung Pao Shrimp, Kung Pao tofu and my own creation: kong pao cauliflower etc.

Cook’s Note

About the sauce, the amount of cornstarch used in the mixed stir fry sauce (碗芡) can be slightly different based on the very single dish. For example, in this kung pao chicken, only a small amount is enough since the chicken cubes is coated with starch in the marinating process. In other veggie kung pao dishes, more cornstarch is needed to make the sauce thicker and consequently can attach to the main ingredients.

Key step of this dish is to be quick and accurate. Transfer the chicken cubes to the edges of the wok (no heat part) until they begins to change color to get the tenderest chicken meat. And be quick after adding the stir frying sauce.

Instructions

If you use chicken thigh: remove the bones by cutting a break on the top and then push the meat off with the help of a sharp knife.

Cut the meat into long strips and further into one bite cubes.

Transfer the chicken to a large bowl and marinating with salt, soy sauce, cooking wine and cornstarch. This helps to add a basic taste and create a protecting shell for the chicken so we can produce the tenderest chicken.

Then cut the leek onion into 1cm sections, slice ginger and garlic.

Heat up oil in wok until hot, pour in cold oil and then heat until warm. Place the chicken cubes in and let them stay for 3-5 seconds until the starch begins gelatinization. Gently fry until all of the chicken cubes begin to change color.

Transfer the chicken cubes to the edges of the wok and empty the center. Add Sichuan peppercorn and dried chili pepper, fry until aromatic. Place in garlic, ginger and half of the scallion sections. Quickly fry to mix well.

Stir the sauce and pour in.

Fry until the sauce is well coated. Mix with the remaining leek onion white sections and fried peanuts. Transfer out immediately.

If you use chicken thigh: remove the bones by cutting a break on the top and then push the meat off with the help of a sharp knife.

Cut the meat into long strips and further into one bite size cubes. Transfer the chicken to a large bowl and marinating with salt, soy sauce, water, cooking wine and cornstarch.

Heat up oil in wok until hot, pour in cold oil and then heat until warm. Place the chicken cubes in and let them stay for 3-5 seconds until the starch begins gelatinization. Gently fry until all of the chicken cubes begin to change color.

Transfer the chicken cubes to the edges of the wok and empty the center. Add Sichuan peppercorn and dried chili pepper, fry until aromatic. Place in garlic, ginger and half of the scallion sections. Quickly fry to mix well.

Add the remaining onion sections and pour the sauce in (pre-stir the sauce just before using). At last mix in fried peanuts. Transfer out immediately as long as everything is well combined.

Recipe Notes

If you are using Sichuan peppercorn powder, add it along with the deep-fried peanuts.

When frying the Sichuan peppercorn, use slow fire and be patient. Over-fried Sichuan peppercorn brings a bitter taste.

Spicy food is the only food i eat, I’m definitely making this, i have made something similar to this before without following ingredients so this is next on my list along with the sweet and sour sauce. This website is going to be visited by me a lot, i can tell 😀

Hi Elaine,
Made this today for dinner and it was absolutely delicious. This will definitely be on my menu on a regular basis. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I’m looking forward to trying more from your site.
Thanks again 🙂

This recipe sounds excellent! I will try it soon, but I have a couple of questions. Could you please specify how many lbs/kg of chicken this recipe requires? Also, how much is “5 cm section” of shallots? Coulpd you please specify this in number of tablespoons or cups?

Such a brilliant idea! I am just providing the basic steps and ingredients. However food is really all about creation. I personally add other ingredients too. And celery and carrot are so perfect for many stir fry recipes.

I made this recipe for our family last night, and they liked it SO much they all sent me an email saying it was the best Kung Pao Chicken they have ever eaten! I have traveled to the Sichuan province and eaten a lot of amazing food there, and I have to say your recipe was as good as some of the food I ate there. Thank you so much, I am looking forward to finding more great recipes on your blog! Greetings from Seattle, Jeree

I just found your website. I am a big fan of Sichuan cuisine and luckily we have two very authentic restaurants in my city. But I want to try to make my favourite dishes (one of which is Kung Pao Chicken) at home.
I own a Sichuan cookbook (the famous one by Fuchsia Dunlop), but the problem is that many of her recipes, while well written, seem to be a bit complicated to recreate.

I hope you will share more SPICY dishes like this one which are quick and easy to make after a long day of work.

Hi Birgit,
Sichuan cuisine in fact is quite complicated when comes to sauces and steps. But we can use simplified version for home cooking, as we can not spend 8 hours just for three meal preparation. Thanks for the suggestion about the noodles and simple spicy dishes. I will try to catch up.

Thank you for this lovely and authentic dish 🙂 it tastes exactly as I remember it.

However, when I was in China, sometimes I had a version with additional cubed cucumber. I really want to try this doing this one as well. When would you suggest to put in the cucumber? And are there any more steps to prepare it (other than cutting it).

Cucumber chicken in mainland China is a different dish named as Jiangbao Chicken. Very similar to kung pao chicken but they are slightly different. But it ok if you want to add some cucumber dices to Kung Pao chicken too.

One thing i hate about the west is the way they badger the original people of india or china into adapting meals to their taste instead of keeping the original taste that made it so famous.I am white british but hate how most indian and chinese dishes taste nothing like they do in the country of origin because it’s too spicy or hot.My indian wife is going to try this method of kung pao and adjust the chillies accordingly as i am now used to spicy hot hot food.My first introduction to kung pao was jerry sienfeld show with george eating a very hot kung pao but sadly in England it’s more sweet n sour in taste and erm milder.

thank you for your wonderful recipes. I was finally able to buy some real Sichuan pepper, which used to be very hard to find in Belgium. This has added a whole new dimension to Chinese cooking as far as I’m concerned. I will be returning to your site regularly and be sure to recommend it to all my friends.

Dear Elaine,
I couldn’t do without your website, thank you for such amazing recipes!
About this one, I have a question. It says in the recipe 1 chicken leg (or 2 tights) and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, then also says to add 1 spoon of cornstartch in the sauce. This makes a very thick sause and it doesn’t look like the photos you have here. I’m using Maizena as my cornstarch, is that why ? I would prefer the sause a bit more runny. Am I reading the proportions wrongly? Otherwise, it’s delicious!!

Hi Priscila,
You understand the recipe right. Yes, firstly we match 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with the chicken meat and use 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with the sauce. If you read the ingredient for the sauce carefully, you will find we are using 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 4.5 tablespoons of liquid. So the sauce should be running. Did you add add the water in the sauce?

I have been an avid follower of your website and I just want to thank you for all this awesome and mouthwatering recipes you are sharing!

I want to know if the cooking wine that is being used in your recipes can be substituted with a plain vinegar? Cooking wine is not really common in my place so I want to know if it has an effect on the final taste of the recipe.

I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing it. I can’t find where you say to add the peanuts. I think the adjustments to accommodate removing the peppers messed up the number references in the narrative. (Steps 3 and 4 don’t involve peanuts, but you describe them as optional if you use roasted peanuts.

Glad I discovered your site. Made your Chinese Steamed Ribs with Fermented Black Beans and it was excellent.
My father had a Chinese Restaurant in the Caribbean and I have travelled around the world and love trying different foods. In April 2018 we were in Lijiang, Yunnan and had a soup my Canadian husband really enjoyed.. I cannot remember the name but it was something about Crossing the Bridge Soup. When it was presented at the table, the chef placed the ingredients,( about 7, one of which was raw quail eggs) in layers ending with rice noodles and a most delicious broth. If you know it would you send me the recipe.
Please include me on your mailing list if you have one. This is the first time I am responding to a blog.

is the amount of cornstarch in this recipe right? In most other kung pao recipes it is only a teaspoon (instead of a tablespoon in this recipe) with twice the amounts of light and dark soy sauce…
After making it this way, the sauce was extremely thick

Hello, it says 3 table spoon of cooking oil and 4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Which is the chilli oil? And do I first use 4 tablespoons heat up and then add the 3 tablespoons? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Thanks a lot! With the update on your recipe I have just made it! I had a lot of soy sauce because of the marinate, do you actually throw the marinade in the wok or just try to put the chicken in without it?

Anyway this was my first recipe in my wok. Before using this wok I used a western wok with a nonstick coating. I love this new pan so much more it’s only 1mm thick so it fires up really fast! I think this recipe really is a keeper! I disliked the dried chili’s though it has a weird texture so next time I’ll just fish them out. Or I’ll try adding in one or two fresh ones?

Thanks a lot for the help and I’ll be sure to keep watching your blog.

I just ran across your website a few days ago and you have done a great job on it. This was an excellent version of Kung Pao chicken. So much better than the mild sweetened up versions found typically in the states. I added a few more dried chilies and sichuan peppercorns and it was just about perfect. I’m looking forward to cooking your tofu with black bean sauce tonight.

Thank you Robert. Most of my recipes are authentic Chinese version. In general, the real Chinese version is less sweet than American version. I even found Sichuan dishes in Shanghai are quite sweet and less spicy too. Dishes are always customized locally.
Happy Cooking and I hope you love the tofu with black bean sauce version too.

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